WORCESTER, MA—On Martin Luther King’s birthday Progressive Labor Party provided a revolutionary alternative to the passivity and treachery of local liberal misleaders and the working class responded in force! The Progressive Labor Party and friends organized a militant march against racism while the town bosses lorded over a traditional Martin Luther King Day breakfast which they hijacked from grassroots organizers years ago. In defiance of the local bosses scores of people came to our march despite the very cold temperatures.
Liberal Bosses Exposed
Sharp struggle at the breakfast exposed fascists masquerading as liberals. A fighter was injured when police arrested him for passing out fliers on predatory lending practices—at a breakfast for Dr. King! A city official who was co-chair of the MLK Day breakfast ordered the arrest of the activist. Scratch a liberal—find a fascist!
PLP and others organized our march against racism. We protested retaliatory criminal charges brought against four protesters who blocked our city’s busiest intersection some time ago. We marched from a church on Temple St. to this intersection, Kelly Square. We showed the bosses and our working class brothers and sisters that we will not be intimidated by retaliatory prosecutions.
Our marchers were reflective of the whole working class. Among the marchers were women and men, Asian, Latin, Black, and white, young and old, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and atheists. One of our friends is a survivor of the Holocaust who is nearly 100 years old; he came and marched the entire distance.
At Kelly Square, we held a rally in where speakers connected capitalism and racism. Our words echoed across the frigid intersection, heard by passers-by and spread word of mouth, social media, and the local press. One speaker demanded a $15 minimum wage. Another demanded an end to mass incarcerations and discrimination against ex prisoners. The main speaker from PLP called for end of the capitalist system, which needs racism, with communist revolution.
To Be Attacked is Good
Racist columnists in our local paper were especially hateful in their attacks on the march and on PLP that appeared in print the next day. To be attacked is a good thing! In ensuing days the working class responded by sending letters to the editor defending our march against racism. The church near where we met for the assembly for the rally was attacked by some of the city bosses, even though it did not directly endorse the rally. Illusions about what side the city bosses are on cannot persist in the face of such brazen assaults on anti-racist fighters, especially with PLP in the mix constantly raising the need for workers to break with the bosses leaders and to become leaders ourselves in the fight for a communist world.
Because of this march, the working class of Worcester has become stronger in the fight against racism and economic injustice.